Japan and South Korea's stock markets opened higher, with South Korea's KOSPI index rising nearly 1%.

CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost stated in a post that since May, the total market capitalization of stablecoins has shrunk by nearly $150 billion, falling from roughly $2.8 trillion to $2.66 trillion. He noted that from last October to this May, the total stablecoin market cap remained largely sideways, meaning either no new liquidity entered the crypto market during that period, or the scale of new liquidity was insufficient to drive further growth in stablecoin market capitalization. At present, even if Bitcoin (BTC) can stabilize, market demand has not recovered, and insufficient liquidity is limiting BTC from making another upward breakthrough. Meanwhile, the continuous decline in stablecoin market cap since May reflects not only a lack of new capital in the market, but more likely that existing liquidity is gradually exiting the crypto market. In this scenario, even if BTC temporarily stops its decline, it still faces pressure from insufficient capital demand.

According to Bitget's market data, spot silver has risen by 1% intraday, currently trading at $64.17 per ounce.

According to market sources, TSMC’s July sales reached NT$467.58 billion, a 44.7% year-on-year increase. Year-to-date cumulative sales amounted to NT$2.87 trillion. The semiconductor giant’s revenue from January to July 2026 stood at NT$2.872064 trillion, marking a 37% year-on-year rise.

Economists have pushed back their expectations for the Swiss National Bank (SNB) interest rate hike, now forecasting the earliest possible move will come after June next year. A monthly institutional survey shows that economists who previously thought borrowing costs could rise as early as this year now expect the SNB to act no earlier than 2027; the majority believe the first rate hike may not occur until early 2028. The shift in market expectations follows earlier reports that the SNB internally projects its policy rate will stay at 0% through the end of 2027 before any potential increase. This assessment is based on the premise that no new major shocks will emerge in the future, and aligns with the general consensus among economists. (Jin10)

The Hong Kong-listed AI application sector extended its decline, with MiniMax-W (00100.HK) down over 5%, Zhipu (02513.HK) falling nearly 3%, and peers including Kingsoft Cloud (03896.HK) and China Software International (00354.HK) also trading lower.

A-share storage chip concept stocks continued their downward trend in the afternoon, with Puya Semiconductor plunging over 10%, while Beijing Junzheng, GigaDevice, Changxin Technology, HENGSEMI, and Dapu Micro also fell.